


The Games of Superheroes, The Dreams of Mortal Men

by animelaina



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, I'm not good with thinking up tags, Insecurity, M/M, Male Slash, No Smut, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Slash, Will Roughly Follow MCU soon, for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 02:38:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13514952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animelaina/pseuds/animelaina
Summary: Tony is a game developer in his free time, as well as Head of R&D department under CEO Pepper Potts, while his boyfriend Steve Rogers is a simple clerk at the Daily Bugle. They live their normal lives, as Tony envisions them as superheroes Iron Man and Captain America in his latest PC game. However, things take a wrong turn when a portal opens up from the game monitor and pulls them into the game where they have to take up the mantle of their superhero counterparts.





	The Games of Superheroes, The Dreams of Mortal Men

Tony sat comfortably in the lounge of his apartment, as he tapped away at the keyboard with his eyes fixed carefully on the screen as he worked away at the 3D model of his character. He always wanted to be a superhero since he was younger, like the characters in the comics he loved so much. Howard always grabbed the comics and threw them in the bin, before losing his temper at Tony, saying that he wasn’t working hard enough and smart enough.

 

Now, he was finally happy. He left behind his toxic family, left behind Howard and memories of emotional abuse. He met Steve, the love of his life, and they got an apartment together. The way sunlight glinted and sparkled on Steve’s blond hair was his best reason to wake up every morning.

 

Steve and him were from vastly different lives – when he graduated from MIT with his first degree, Steve was still in high school, working part time jobs at a café. Tony patented some of his inventions, and earned enough money to study a second degree, and spent a lot of time at the café that Steve was working at, getting his much needed caffeine to keep pursuing better and more improved science. They became good friends after many easy, late night conversations. However, it wasn’t until Steve got beat up in a small alley behind the café and Tony saw him home that Tony realised that he was in love with the righteousness and courage of the smaller man.

 

Steve was frail, sure. Pretty much a little ball of justice, and that could be annoying since Tony always had to make sure he wasn’t getting into fights over defending stray puppers or falling out of trees by retrieving cats for poor old ladies. However, his heart of gold was actually what attracted Tony the most, even though he would never admit it to anyone else, not especially Steve.

 

He knew Steve was insecure about himself, and he wanted to change that, he thought to himself as he worked on his latest character that he decided to call Captain America. “Blond, blue eyes, but strong. No more health problems that Stevie suffers from,” he muttered to himself. “What weapon should I equip him with? I would have wanted a cool gun or something, but Steve only fights to protect the weak.”

 

A shield, he decided. With that blue colour on it, just like the 5 similar blue shirts in his closet.

 

He fiddled with the design for a bit, when he heard the door click open. A small, thin man appeared at his doorstep.

 

“Captain of Justice, love of my life, my darling Stevie, I’m so glad you’re home,” Tony rattled off with his eyes still glued to the screen. “How was work?”

 

“You know work is never any fun,” the blond grumbled. “The only one who’s actually my friend is Peter, and J Jonah Jameson keeps pestering him for pictures of some famous web designer. By extension, he yells at me too, and the both of us are like the laughingstock of the Daily Bugle.” A long sigh exuded from Steve, and the brunette strode quickly across their apartment to hold him in a warm, tight, hug.

 

“I told you don’t have to work. I have 3 degrees, and I own a big firm. Pep’s the CEO, but you do know that I have the most shares right? I can easily provide for you, but no, you have to be stubborn and choose to live in this tiny apartment because you want to be able to pay your fair share of rent. You could spend all your time doing things you like, rather than working at that small, useless, firm-”

 

“I already do the thing I like pretty often,” Steve whispered in a low voice, mouth a few centimetres away from Tony’s neck.

 

Tony laughed and pushed Steve away gently. “So I’m a thing now, huh? Since when did you learn to say things like this, Mama Rogers would be appalled at your manners,” he chuckled. “Come on, I know I can’t convince you that you must have a job because of your righteousness, but I want to show you the game I’ve been working on.”

 

Tony took Steve’s tiny hand in his own and interlaced their fingers, before pulling him over slowly to where a few laptop screens stood on the desk. One of the screens showed a map of Manhattan, while another showed an animation of some robots flying around played on repeat every few seconds. Steve’s eyes shifted to the last screen, and saw himself, but stronger. Tall, handsome. His sharp cheekbones from thinness were all filled out. A shiny shield with a white star in the middle was hooked onto his right hand, and his gaze was firm, but hopeful. Steve had never seen himself like this, and his grip on Tony’s hand tightened. His other hand reached out to touch the screen gently with the tip of his fingers.

 

“Is this me?” he whispered in awe.

 

“Yes, darling, who else would it be? You know designing games is a hobby for me, and since it’s not something that Pep needs for the company, I decided to make superheroes, but based on us. I wanted to give you another reality – didn’t want you to be insecure anymore,” Tony said evenly.

 

“It’s me,” Steve said softly, with a tinge of excitement. “I look good.”

 

“You always look good, darling.”

 

“Where’s your character?”

 

“Oh man, I’m way cooler than you, don’t get jealous.”

 

Steve gave Tony a little shove, and kissed away the smirk on the brunette’s face. He leaned in to swipe at the screen, and it showed a 3D render of another hero, with the words ‘Iron Man’ etched at the top of the screen.

 

“Iron Man,” Steve wheezed. “Iron Man, that’s so silly. How would anyone even be able to walk around in an entire outfit made of iron, that’s just downright hilarious. Might as well call yourself Metal Man. Or Shiny Man.”

 

“Hey! Stop laughing! Look at how cool Iron Man is! He has that blue glow where his heart is, blue like the the colour of your eyes. The rest of him is all red and gold, that’s so good-looking! Just like the creator! Better than your design which is totally tight spandex over your star spangled ass.” Tony protested.

 

Steve swiped back to look at his outfit. He drank in every detail, every small part of the cowl, the spandex, the shield, and stood there quietly for a few minutes, left hand gripping Tony’s warm right hand.

 

“I had such a bad day at work, and I came home to this,” the words tumbled out of Steve’s mouth hurriedly, “And I’m so happy, I don’t even have the words to describe how much I love the game and Captain America.”

 

He turned, and buried his face in Tony’s neck.

 

“I’m Captain America, Tony,” and the taller man felt his lips curl up into a smile. “Emblem of Justice. Star of America. All the things I never got to be. I was always too weak to protect other people and I finally get to do what I want.”

 

Tony wrapped his arms protectively around Steve’s small frame, and breathed in the scent of that shiny blond hair.

 

“Anything for you, darling, but the game’s still a work in progress and it’s going to be a lot better when you actually get to play it. The resolution of the graphicsis disappointing low right now, and we can’t be the only two superheroes in the entire game, so I have to design more characters, and then look at the boss battles, and allocate the different game paths, and – I’m rambling again, fuck, look at me, I can’t stop talking, especially when I get so nervous, I really wanted to make you happy, I don’t even know where that sentence was even going anymore,” Tony finished.

 

“It’s already perfect.”

 

“Then you mustn’t have seen a lot of perfect things in your life, darling, the game is so incomplete.”

 

“I’ve seen you,” Steve said quietly. It was less than a whisper – Tony barely caught the words, but his heart burst with pride that someone finally thought he was perfect. It had been so long ever since someone wanted him around, and didn’t just want to use him. His heart was incited into a rhythm of rapid palpitations, as if his soul was a barren garden that just burst into a field of bright flowers. No one other than Steve could make him feel that way, whether it was late nights of caffeine and working, or waking up in the morning to see Steve’s head resting gently on his chest, wrapped up in his arms.

 

\------

 

The game was making good progress, and Tony had come up with a name for the team that they were in. Steve was curled up on the couch, watching as Tony’s fingers clicked furiously away at the keyboards connected to the large monitors.

 

“Come over and have movie night with me?”

 

“No, Steve, I told you, I’m planning the boss battle now, it’s going to be real epic.”

 

“You just can’t take a break to watch Justice League with me, huh.”

 

“That’s not even motivating me to want to watch with you, you picked a bad movie.”

 

“Then can I see what you’re working on?”

 

“It’s supposed to be a _surprise,_ Steve, I’m sure you know what that word means. A few more lines of coding and I’ll go and watch your stupid Justice League with you.”

 

Steve wasn’t even paying attention to the movie anymore. He watched the clock on the wall tick away, counting the seconds before his boyfriend came over to join him on the couch.

 

“It’s been _5 whole minutes,_ Tony.”

 

Tony got up from his chair, and dusted off his knees.

 

“Always so eager for me, darling,” Tony said with a smug look on his face, before tumbling unceremoniously onto the couch, sliding an arm behind Steve’s back. The blond leaned easily into Tony’s side, feeling a slight tickle of Tony’s rough stubble against the temple of his forehead. This was the best part of his life, he thought. Even with J Jonah Jameson, as he could come home to this handsome man every night.

 

The movie played on, and they watched on in comfortable silence, and Steve slowly nodded off to sleep. It had been a busy day at the Daily Bugle for him. Tony grabbed a blanket lying around on the floor, smoothed it out in a few strokes before covering the both of them with the soft cloth. He pressed a kiss to the top of Steve’s head tenderly and chastely, before falling asleep as well.

 

\------

 

When Tony next woke up, he took a glance at the clock, which said that it was 4.32am. He rubbed his eyes groggily, and felt that his arm was slightly numb after being pressed under Steve for so long. He didn’t want to wake Steve though, so he stayed in that position as he scrolled through social media on his heavily modified phone. _When I finish designing the game, I’m going to invent a new phone,_ he thought to himself. _New phones these days are of terrible quality, and they’re not thinking big enough with each update._

Steve stirred slightly, and Tony adjusted himself to make Steve more comfortable. He looked beautiful asleep – the neon lights of night time New York were shining on his pale face, and the brunette reached a hand out to brush a stray strand of hair backwards.

 

All of a sudden, the l screens with the game in progress switched on, and it startled Tony. His AI JARVIS was still in progress, so he was really confused as to why the screens switched on for no reason. The monitors whirred alive, and Steve woke up, glancing questioningly at Tony, before he twirled their hands together.

 

“What’s going on, Tony?” Steve asked sleepily.

 

“I don’t know, the laptop screens switched on by themselves,” Tony replied, a slight hint of worry lacing his words. It didn’t make any sense, and he felt a chill down his spine, as if something bad was going to happen immediately. Someone could be hacking his computers? It was unlikely, as his skills in tech was superior to most, but still a possibility. The whirring of the monitors got increasingly louder, and he stood up in alarm, with his hand still in Steve’s. The light of the screens became blindingly bright, and both he and Steve threw up an arm over their eyes, as if to shield themselves from the unknown. Tony felt an immense tugging force pulling him into the bright light, and the last feeling he felt before he blacked out was the tight grip of Steve’s fingers, a silent promise of not letting go no matter what happened.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully I will have the motivation to keep writing after this! (And not turn up with the next chapter after 6 months or something) I'm really busy with school, but I really want to keep working on this story, and explore how Tony and Steve adapt towards superhero-ing and their feelings on the alternate universe. Comment ideas on how you want the story to go from here! I'm open to opinions :-) Or you can just comment anything you like. I love comments. Please subscribe and/or kudos if you liked the first part of the story. I'm not exactly fantastic at writing, but practice makes perfect.


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